Lansing (MI) Recommendations?

Horrocks is a must for bottles. Largest selection in the area and they have 50 taps and do growler fills.

Hopcat east lansing is a great spot for food and they have a shit load of taps.

Ellison brewery is a solid spot. Relatively new, but solid beers. No food.

You mentioned vine and brew which is great. Just down the road is big 10 okemos which is another solid spot for bottles.

Crunchys in east lansing is another good spot. Good pizza, college bar atmosphere 25 or so taps that is solid stuff.

 

Soup Spoon, LBC, Beer Grotto, and Taps 25 all in decent proximity in Downtown Lansing Stadium District. All of their tap lists can be found online and are usually up to date. Soup Spoon and LBC are known for having great food. Beer Grotto and Taps 25 always have a nice selection and growlers/howlers to go.

For bottle shops, Vine and Brew and Horrock's are probably the best but they are a ways from each other. Any of the Big10's, but particularly Okemos and Oade's, are worth a stop.

In East Lansing the place to be is Crunchy's for me. Great selection that keeps rotating and phenomenal prices (they also sell bottles and crowlers). HopCat is fine, I am usually turned off by their ridiculous prices, but hard to argue with their beer list and crack fries. Both Crunchy's and HopCat beer lists can be found online as well. Reno's East (and to a lesser extent North and West) have solid craft beer lists (you guessed it, also available online ), free popcorn, and okay food.

Oh and Ellison is definitely worth a quick stop, but their beers can sometimes be found at the above listed restaurants (like Reno's East at the moment).

 

In East Lansing, I also prefer Crunchy's - it has that local bar feel. Great burgers. Before you go, though, check to see if MSU has a home basketball game. Crunchy's is one of the closest (along with Harrison Roadhouse, which isn't a bad backup option for beer/food) restaurants/bars to the basketball arena, so there can be a heavy pre-game crowd. HopCat is the big shiny place and has more taps, but as stated above, it can be pricey. Crunchy's and HopCat are within walking distance of each other. On the other side of town, I love Horrock's. It's a big market with everything from artisan cheese counter, flower shop, butcher, bottle shop/taps. If you've been to northern Ohio, they're like Andersens. Vine and Brew will let you get a single of any bottle in the store.

You have two options for the best brewery, and they're opposite of each other. Lansing Brewing Company is large, extremely well designed and executed for a place that's maybe only a year old, full menu, wide range of solid beers. Ellison is all about the beer. They're in a plain warehouse space with just a few tables and a bar, but still welcoming and I personally think they have better beer. No food, but they allow outside food to be brought in. Georgio's pizza is a couple miles from Ellison. They sell a wide variety of pizzas (buffalo chicken pesto, gyro, baked potato, etc) by the slice - grab a couple slices there and eat them Ellison. If you're up for a 20-ish minute drive, Bad Brewing in Mason has upped their game lately.

 

I'm still amazed that Crunchy's is such a good spot for craft beer. To say that I had no idea about that when I went to school there would be an understatement (of course, maybe it wasn't that way 15-20 years ago). I used to live in a house on Oakhill just past the field on the north side of Crunchy's, so it was quite popular for me and my friends. This makes me want to get back there for a weekend and basketball game.

 

Good question....

You probably have enough Founder's and Bell's. I would focus on offerings from Dark Horse, Short's, Odd Side, Black Rocks, Perrin, and Greenbush. Even the year-round offerings from these guys are worth trying. But there some good seasonal and limited things around too (Lil' Griz, Super Fluid, Swirl Stout, Plead the 5th, Double Crooked Tree to name but a few that I like.)

 

Midtown Brewing is open for lunch. http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/24888/ It's been a while since I've been there, but I recall their beers are okay or better. I think they also have beers from other breweries on tap too, so you have the opportunity to try other Michigan (and I think some non-Michigan) breweries while there. I think the food was pretty good, maybe a step above typical pub grub.

I think @PrestigeWorldwide hit the right breweries for finding some good beers in stores. Arcadia, Latitude 42 and Griffin Claw are three more breweries that put out some good beers but maybe you need to be a little more selective of which ones to buy. I don't think there will be much in the way of high-hyped beers on the shelves for you to get lucky, but my store just got a second shipment of Hopslam over the weekend and maybe other stores in Michigan will also be fortunate.

 

Well these guys pretty much covered everything.

If you are near the Lansing center then beer grotto, taps25 etc are right there. Perfect spot.

I don't know if I'd waste the time to go down to BAD. That'd be a good time to go to vine and brew and then grab food and go to Ellison.

Lansing brewing. Company really has the food nailed down, and the beer is okay. Since you will be free in the middle of the day the first day, hop at has good middle of the day specials.

Watch social media. Vine and brew gets most of their stuff on Thursday/Friday and they post it on social media. No holds, first come first served. I don't know anything slated to come out this week though.

Now for a warning that I wouldn't normally do. Keep some hand sanitizer with you and wash your hands a lot. There seems to be a lot of norovirus in the area right now. I know of an MSU event late last week that got a lot of people sick and I unfortunately have it last night / today.

Quick way to make your trip shit...

 

Now I'm no epidemiologist (or am i?), but if noro virus is your concern you'll have to stick to soap and water. You know the 99.99% of germs killed by hand sanitizer? Well, noro is in the .01%.

But please still continue to use hand sanitizer for lots of other reasons!

The folks at horrocks and vine and brew are really helpful and knowledgeable, so let them know what you're looking for and they'll steer you in the right direction.

 

Grab some Shorts Superfund to drink at the hotel or take home. Should still be around in bottle shops.

 

I was looking at tips for children since they just love to wash their hands probably more of a mental push to just be more cleanly on that account then if it's not effective. Either way, it sucks.

 

Superfluid that is

 

I can't say enough good things about Horrock's. While they have the best selection in the area, I feel their best attribute is their staff. They are always very welcoming and they are all very knowledgeable about craft beer. TomCat, if you visit Horrock's, explain to them that you are from out of state and making a special trip to Horrock's. Tell them what you are looking for and they will hook you up for sure. When you do go, make sure you get yourself a pint first, then start shopping.

I would also advise going to Crunchy's and Hopcat. See which one you like better. Both are nice. And I agree with almost all of the comments made above regarding these two establishments. You will have to pay for parking if you go before 5:00PM or 6:00PM. If you go to both at night, I would park behind Crunchy's (there's a lot of metered parking here) and then walk over to Hopcat when you are ready. Crunchy's and Hopcat are only two or three blocks away from each other and it's completely safe.

 

Go to vine and brew for singles and mix sixes, they dont charge more for singles, horrocks has crazy prices on their single bottles.

 

Check your flight too as we are slated for a winter storm. My phone has been yelling at me about It all day. Apparently Thursday morning is supposed to be nasty.

 

Never can tell in Michigan

 

There's a 7-11 style convenience store across the street from Crunchy's. They have a small selection of bottles besides the standard college bro stuff, but every once in a while you can find a gem in there that everyone else has already sold out of.